When Christmas Day itself arrives, Nick's suspicions escalate as he finds that the Bros tape is now missing from the drawer at the Barlows' – a sure sign that Peter is preparing to make his move sometime soon.

Nick confronts Peter and the two men end up brawling in the street, before Nick grabs the Bros tape from Peter's pocket, thrusts it at Leanne and orders her to open it.

Leanne is equally horrified as she reads the message, but is Peter really trying to win her back?

On Christmas Day, there's another disappointment for Laurel when she attends church with her family but has to sadly explain that Ashley isn't attending as he's having a bad day.

Soon afterwards, though, Ashley stumbles into the church regardless and although Laurel is worried over what he might do, show insiders have teased that there's a happy surprise in store for the family.

John Middleton, who plays Ashley, also recently revealed: "Christmas Day is actually a lovely day in terms of how Ashley is.

"He has a sort of slight awakening on Christmas Day, to do with the circumstances of the day itself – the service in the church, things like that. There's a familiarity to it all, which is sparked by a carol initially."

Later, Max seems ready for a fresh start as he attempts to get back on good terms with his family, but is he really being genuine? Or could he still hold a grudge over the way his loved ones turned against him when he needed them most?

EastEnders airs these scenes on Tuesday, December 27 at 7.30pm on BBC One.

The couple's fall-out leads to John Paul deciding to spend Christmas without James, much to the delight of Scott Drinkwell, who still hopes he has a chance with his ex.

When Scott enjoys Christmas Day at the McQueen house, he even takes a sneaky look at an apology text that James has sent to John Paul and intervenes by deleting it.

Scott's scheming appears to have been thwarted when James later turns up at the McQueens' wearing a Christmas jumper and promises to do better with Matthew from now on, but an undeterred Scott continues to cause trouble.

As everyone gets stuck into some Christmas party games, Scott's blatant flirting with John Paul starts to infuriate James. Could Scott still come between them, or is he onto a loser with this one?

Hollyoaks airs these scenes on Tuesday, December 20 at 6.30pm on Channel 4.